A good CRM implementation should be making you more efficient and saving you a lot of time.  After all, time is money.

A common question I’m asked is whether there is an easy way to add the incoming leads you receive from a website form directly into an ACT! database.  My answer is a resounding YES.

Many ACT! users don’t realize that the ACT! E-Marketing functionality does a whole lot more than simply send e-blasts.  The utility can also be used to create a web form.  Quite simply that means that means that when someone submits their contact information to you via your website their information will automatically appear in your ACT! database.

ACT! E-Marketing will allow you to create basic web forms.  I’ve recently partnered up with an amazing company, Juicy Results, who will connect those web forms to the “Contact Us” portion of your website and ensure that the web form will have the same look and feel as your existing website.  They also have some really great optimization services that will make sure that prospects are actually able to find your web site!

Jeremy Pound of Juicy Results is holding a free webinar on website optimization geared towards companies that offer professional services.  This would be a great time to learn about some of the great services that Juicy Results has to offer.

You can sign up for the event at:  http://www.juicyresults.com/2011/internet_marketing_webinar/

I truly believe that even the best of us procrastinate at least once in a while especially when it comes to doing routine tasks or things we don’t have fun doing.  Most of us aren’t going to jump out of bed early on a Saturday to shovel snow or rake the lawn.  Nor are most companies very proactive about writing thank you notes or sending holiday cards.

I love ACT! because it helps take some of the pain out of those routine tasks that we all dread.  For example, it’s easy to create a query based on your recently closed business and use that as the basis for thank you notes.  Or you might add a “mailing” field and use that to generate a list for your holiday cards.  And of course you can send those cards electronically if you want.

I can’t claim that CRM software will help you get your holiday shopping done on a timelier basis but I can claim that it will help automate many of the office chores to make you much more productive and efficient.  And of course, all that extra productivity will give you a bit more time to go to the mall to buy those last minute gifts!

You might be wondering what in the world a tennis player has in common with a marketer.  I can think of several similarities:

1. Good work ethic – Prior to Tuesday’s match you might not have even heard of either of these players (Isner is ranked 18^th and Mahut 148^th in the world).  However, just like your marketing efforts these guys aren’t overnight sensations.  Isner has been playing since age 9, Mahut since age 5.  Just like you can’t play tennis one time and expect to compete at Wimbledon, you can’t send out one marketing piece and expect immediate success.  You’ve got to keep working at it.
2. Determination – I can only imagine what each of those players was thinking as the match wore on.  Obviously, giving up was not an option.
3. Confidence - Each player had the confidence that he would ultimately succeed.  When fatigue set it they allowed themselves to rely on their instincts.   A marketer has to have the same confidence that his efforts will result in great results.
4. Keeping an eye on the prize – Although Isner won the battle, he lost the war as unfortunately he lost his next Wimbledon match.  There’s no doubt that both of these players will be playing many more matches over the course of their careers.  And they’ll concentrate on what they did accomplish and not on what they didn’t.

Wonder if either of those players is looking for a job?

For those of you who might not be familiar with lynda.com I’d describe it as an online software school.  You can take out a monthly subscription for roughly $25 a month which give you access to all of the courses including my own courses on ACT 2010 and Outlook 2010.  For example, if you’re creating a blog you can take a Word Press course, or if you need to learn how to edit your photos you might want to check out a Photo Shop course.  The last time I looked there were over 800 available courses with new ones being added every day.

I actually created two courses on Outlook 2010.  The Outlook 2010 New Features course is aimed at Outlook users who are upgrading to 2010 and covers the “new stuff” such as the new Outlook Ribbon, Quick Steps and the Outlook Social Network connector.  The Outlook 2010 Essential Training course is for the new Outlook user who wants to learn everything from setting up an e-mail account and subscribing to blogs, to creating an address book and keeping a calendar.

Alternatively you can just purchase the course of your choice on DVD for $49 through Amazon.  My ACT 2010 Essential training DVD is currently available and the Outlook 2010 will be available shortly.

Maybe it was a full moon, or maybe it’s the economy that prompted those calls.  However, I’m always amazed that many companies are so unwilling to invest in their software solutions.

For those of you not familiar with the term, an investment is a commitment of money or capital in order to gain a financial return.  If you really want to succeed in today’s business environment you’re going to have to invest some time – and money – into your technology.  And that investment now will result in profitable returns in the future.

Let’s take a look at the first caller.  Aside from the fact that he has created a maintenance nightmare, having so many databases is just plain inefficient.  For one thing, he has to access over 20 Task Lists and Calendars when scheduling appointments and follow-up activities.  He can’t obtain company-wide feedback on his marketing efforts.  He wastes time opening and closing databases.  Worst of all, he runs a huge risk of accidentally stumbling into the wrong database – or deleting it entirely.  And I doubt very seriously if that “kid down the street” is going to be able to help him out of his mess.

His investment in a bit of specialized training and support will result in a huge increase in productivity – and ultimately profitability.

The second caller is obviously quite happy with the status quo.  He certainly isn’t using social networking to expand his client base or e-marketing to promote his products.  His computers are probably 7-8 years old; when they eventually die he’ll have to scramble around at the last minute to replace them as well as all of his outdated software which is no longer compatible with the newer Operating Systems.

His investment in a software upgrade now will result in an increase in sales and business later.  His investment will also prevent the chaos and down time that he’ll experience when he’s forced to replace his infrastructure at a moment’s notice.

Your parents probably taught you as a child to invest in your future.  Shouldn’t you also be investing in your business?

Perhaps the final nail in the publishing coffin will be delivered not by the purveyors of information but by the speed of the information itself.  Take a look at the ACT software; it took 18 years to develop the first 6 versions of ACT and only 5 years to develop the next 5.  More and more software is coming to us in the way of SaaS (software as a service) and can be modified at a moment’s notice.  Considering that it takes anywhere from 6-9 months to produce a book it becomes almost impossible for a publisher to keep up with the changes.

When I wrote the first of what would turn out to be 11 For Dummies books nearly 9 years ago, the publishing world looked quite a bit different than it does today.  Wiley Publishing had contacted me as the ACT Software Expert, we agreed on a table of contents, and I wrote the book.  When a new version of ACT came out a couple of years later, I expanded the table of contents slightly and wrote a new version.

Fast forward to 2009.  Publishers’ are facing a decline in revenues; consequently it is harder than ever to get a book published.  About this time I was contacted by lynda.com to create ACT training videos.  Lynda has been around for 10 year, mainly focusing on web and graphic software training.  Lynda advertises that they have courses in over 700 software titles.  Intrigued, I perused their offerings and found courses on subjects I had never heard of (Joomla! and Ruby come to mind) as well as on topics that I knew but needed to know better (WordPress and Twitter ).  And, like a book, each course is divided into chapters and each chapter contains a number of topics.  Viewing a topic can take anywhere from 3 to 8 minutes and, if a picture is worth a thousand words these are worth a million.

The team at lynda has the process down to rocket science and in a little more than a month’s time the ACT 2010 Essential Training videos  were up and running.

Don’t get me wrong.  I’ll continue to write – and read books.  I live in Florida and don’t want to drag a laptop to the beach or risk getting sand in my Kindle.  But if I need training on a rapidly changing site such as Facebook I’ll be using lynda where I know I’ll get the latest and greatest information.

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I like to rank CRM products. Using Excel as a database is better than using a Rolodex system or sifting through mountains of business cards. Using Outlook gives you an added level or organization and provides you with a basic calendar. Outlook’s Business Contact Manager begins to integrate several business processes. I like ACT! because of its flexibility, ease of use and price. Once you’ve outgrown ACT! there are many options available to you; however, many ACT! users only scratch the surface of ACT!’s functionality.

In this article I rank ACT! users based on their experience with both CRM software and ACT!. You’ll notice that I do not take into consideration the actual years a user has spent working with ACT! but rather your true mastery of the software.

Level 1: The Apprentice: Focus on organization
Hands down, the majority of ACT! users are “Apprentices.” These folks are using ACT! as an electronic rolodex.

• Data entry is typically inconsistent. For example, a variety of abbreviations is used to record city information.
• They probably still have multiple databases and are duplicating their data entry.
• Apprentice users are still struggling to add structure to the ever-increasing amount of data in ACT! and have no idea how to tame the chaos.
• Apprentice users typically feel that they should be using more of ACT!’s functionality.
• Apprentice users often put the CRM decision making in the wrong hands. For example, an admin assistant or IT person determines the structure of the database rather than the company’s main decision maker.

The key benefit for the Apprentice user is organization. In general, the biggest obstacle to better contact management is the users themselves; the Apprentices know that they need to change their CRM implementation but they are afraid to make any changes.

Level 2: The Professional: Focus on Productivity
Becoming an ACT! professional is all about integrating your processes, increasing your productivity and increasing your profit margin.

• Professional users avoid duplicate entry by integrating their various software programs including Outlook, QuickBooks and even their smart phones to ACT!
• Professionals use ACT! for all facets of contact management; it is used equally for sales, marketing and customer service purposes.
• The database is universally accessible; a user can access his information from wherever his travels take him.
• If necessary, the database can be shared by a team of users.

The key here is knowing why to use functionality rather than just knowing how to use it. Your reward for raising your usage level to Professional will be the increase in productivity seen throughout your organization.

Level 3: The Expert: Focus on Profits
The key word here is processes. An Expert user of contact management is one whose software runs like a finely-tuned clock.

• There is a systematic approach to contacting prospects in order to determine those that are qualified leads.
• There is a pipeline in use to identify both qualified leads and existing customers.
  The methodology used for qualifying leads is based on proven, successful strategies.
• Your successes can be measured and, more importantly, be reproduced by both existing and new staff members.
• You have a system in place for identifying important customer milestones such as contract renewal dates.
• You reserve your calendar for meetings and appointments and don’t rely on it to remind you of critical milestones such as contract renewal dates.
• Groups, when used, are dynamic; contacts are placed in a group based on specific queries and not just a random selection.

25% of a typical database consists of “dead wood.” The Expert knows how to prevent contacts from “falling through the cracks.” More importantly, the Expert can quickly focus on the events that product the greatest profits.

Level 4: The Master: Focus on Growth
Very few database users – if any – achieve true Mastery of a database but there’s no harm in aiming for perfection. Database Masters notice improvements in their organization’s efficiency, productivity, and ultimately profits.

• You can easily monitor performance, and are continuously improving the system.
• You have the ability to forecast upcoming revenues.
• You can easily find – and resolve – problems such as customer service issues, lost leads or abandoned deals.
• You can use your data to create future strategies.

Those of you who truly become masters of your database will undoubtedly experience an increase in your company’s efficiency, productivity and profits. In addition, you will be able to document dramatic growth in your business. Customer retention will increase, your closing rate will improve and your lead generation efforts will be much more successful.